The present invention relates to an advance warning traffic safety device and, more particularly, to an advance warning traffic safety device for alerting pedestrians, members of a road work crew, and other persons of impending vehicular danger so that such persons can avoid being endangered by a vehicle straying from a road.
Although roads customarily are provided with striped and solid lines to demarcate traffic lanes and other boundaries, situations arise in which it is necessary to direct vehicular traffic out of a permanently demarcated traffic lane and along a temporarily demarcated traffic lane. Such situations arise, for example, when a road construction or repair crew is operating on or near a road and, in this situation, it becomes necessary to guide the vehicular traffic on the existing road out of the way of moving construction equipment. More importantly, it is necessary to direct the vehicular traffic in such a manner that the road construction or repair people are not endangered.
Numerous physical barrier-type traffic lane demarcators have been proposed to serve the dual function of directing traffic around a road construction or repair site as well as to safeguard the safety of the road construction or repair workers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,254 to Durand discloses a traffic divider. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,499 to Furiate discloses a concrete traffic barrier of the type commonly referred to as a "New Jersey" barrier which not only delineates a border defining the construction area into which vehicles should not travel but, additionally, is of a size and weight to actually physically deter vehicles from crossing into the construction area. The Furiate traffic lane delineator additionally includes a sound generating device in the form of a plurality of alternating raised tabs and open regions extending outwardly from the bottom of the concrete barrier. In the event a vehicle strays too closely to the concrete barrier, the tires of the vehicle travel over the alternating raised tabs and open recesses and this motion creates an audible sound to alert the driver to steer the vehicle away from the concrete barrier.
Although weighted physical barriers enhance the safety of a road work site, their relatively heavy weight and size adds to the cost and difficulty in deploying these types of barriers in the manner needed to ensure the safety of a road work site. As a result, many road work crews depend on relatively lightweight traffic delineators such as plastic cones or barrels which have a bright reflective color to visibly alert drivers to either follow a new, temporarily delineated traffic lane or to alert drivers that they are approaching a road work site. While relatively easy to deploy, such lightweight visible traffic lane delineators do not enhance the physical safety of the road work site in any manner, as an errant vehicle which strays from the proper vehicle path will drive over or knock aside such traffic lane delineators. Moreover, none of these barriers provide an advance warning capability which could alert pedestrians, work crew members and others near a crash site to impending danger. Accordingly, the need still exists for improvements in traffic lane delineators which can reduce the risk of injury or life-threatening situations while being of a size and weight which advantageously permits easy deployment and storage of the device.